Confidence in the Supreme Court sank to its lowest point in a half century in 2022, according to the General Social Survey.
Conducted by NORC at the University of Chicago, the General Social Survey has been measuring confidence in the Supreme Court since 1973—the same year Roe v Wade legalized abortion nationwide.
In 2022, the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade with its June 24 ruling in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
According to the Guttmacher Institute, 44 states prohibit at least some abortions after a certain point in pregnancy as of May 2023, with 13 banning abortion.
The latest General Social Survey found 18% of Americans said they have a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court, down from 26% in 2021.
Meanwhile, 36% of those surveyed said they had hardly any confidence in the Court, up from 21%. Another 46% said they have “only some” confidence in the Supreme Court.
The survey’s downward trend was concentrated among women, Democrats and those who say a woman should be able to get an abortion if she wants one “for any reason.”
Only 12% of women surveyed said they have a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court, down from 22% in 2021 and 32% in 2018.
Confidence among Democrats plummeted to a mere 8% in 2022, down from 25% a year earlier.
Of those who said abortion should be available without restrictions, confidence dropped by more than half—down to 12% in 2022 as compared to 25% the year prior.
However, even among Republicans confidence has slipped. Only 26% of Republicans said they have a great deal of confidence in the Supreme Court, down from 31% in 2021 and 37% in 2018.
Most of the interviews conducted by General Social Survey researchers took place after the Court’s conservative supermajority overturned Roe in June, and all were conducted after a draft decision in Dobbs v Jackson leaked on May 2.
The General Social Survey follows research from Gallup last year, which also found confidence had sunk to historic lows. Just 25% of those Americans surveyed by Gallup saying they had confidence in the Supreme Court, down from 36% a year prior and down five percentage points from its previous low recorded in 2014.
